Assessment Basics and Active Student Involvement

1. Assessment Basics and Active Student Involvement

2. Big Ideas & Key Questions • How does assessment fit into the teaching/learning process? • Learning targets - why should I care? • Evidence – what’s that? • Assessment methods - what are my options? • Scoring guides – what are those? • How do I put it all together?

3. What have been your experiences with assessment? What have been the purposes of assessment in your school career?

4. Assessment • Marv • Teach, test, and hope for the best…. • “It’s not teaching that causes results, it’s adjustments by the learner.” - G. Wiggins • Learners need feedback => Assessment

5. My Learning Targets 1. Students will develop their understanding of the role of assessment in the larger processes of curriculum planning and active learning (ala *UbD). (concept/generalization) 2. Students will develop their understanding of the learning target categories: fact, concept, skill and disposition (adopted from *Stiggins). (concept/generalization) 3. Students will develop their understanding of basic assessment methods (M.C./short answer, essay, performance assessment, personal communication) and scoring guides (e.g. rubrics) (concept/generalization). 4. Students will develop their ability to make reasonable associations between types of learning targets and the four basic assessment methods (skill/process). * UbD: “Understanding by Design”

6. Backward Design: Assessment in the curriculum planning process • Know your content! • Develop your learning targets; • Develop your assessments; • Develop your instructional activities; • Evaluate the quality and equity of the process.

7. Planning with Assessment in Mind

8. Planning with Assessment in Mind Examples If Target = facts about WWI Then Evidence might = recitation of facts And Assessment Method = selected response If Target = conceptual understanding of the causes of WWI Then Evidence might = an effective essay about how you might have averted WWI as a time traveler And Assessment Method = essay If Target = Skill / ability to use the concept of "sample space" to solve a probability problem Then Evidence might = your ability to show how to derive and use a sample space in the Spinners Exercise. And Assessment Method = performance assessment. If Target = positive disposition regarding 17th C. British Lit. Then Evidence might = students select this lit. forpleasure reading. And Assessment might be personal communication (or selected response / short answer, e.g., a survey)

9. Target => Evidence => Assessment • Fact • that which we know • Concept/Generalization • that which we understand • Skill/Process • that which we can do • Disposition • that which we value, enjoy, appreciate, etc.

10. Learning Targets: Fact • that the capital of Australia is Canberra; • twelve important dates for WWI: • June 28, 1914 - Archduke Ferdinand, is assassinated in Sarajevo, . . . , • June 28, 1919 - Peace Treaty signed in Versailles. • an isosceles triangle has 2 sides of equal length; • the definition of perseverance : [Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.] evidence: state the definition of “perseverance.” assessment: selected response - matching test Students will know…. Target => Evidence => Assessment

11. Learning Targets: Concept/Generalization Concept: an abstract idea generalized from particular instances Generalization: statements about relationships between or among concepts • that confronting prejudices and stereotypes is part of building meaningful relationships across differences; • that it takes perseverance to work for justice; • Perseverance as “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” evidence: identify and explain examples of perseverance in the novel, “Something to Hold.” assessment: essay or personal communication Students will understand…. Target => Evidence => Assessment

12. Learning Targets: Skill/Process • make inferences about character traits that support characters’ abilities to build relationships across differences; • glean information about causes of the Civil War from primary sources; • use the strategy of “reading-on” to comprehend words and ideas in complex text; • use the text animation feature of Power Point, including “effects,” and “order and timing.” evidence: student produces slides using these features assessment: performance assessment Students will be able to…. Target => Evidence => Assessment

13. Learning Targets: Dispositions Students will value, enjoy, appreciate, etc…. • value divergent scientific thinking; • enjoy speaking Spanish; • appreciate the use of history as a tool to understand the present; • value perseverance in mathematical problem solving. evidence: students persist with their own problem solving efforts before consulting the teacher or their peers. assessment: personal communication Target => Evidence => Assessment

14. Target => Evidence => Assessment What does it looklike when students are achieving the following kinds of targets? • Facts • ”Students will know that …” • Concepts/Generalizations • “Students will understand that …” • Skills/Processes • “Students will be able to …” • Dispositions • “Students will enjoy / appreciate / value, etc. …” Write a learning target of your own and then write a statement of evidence for that target.

15. Target => Evidence => Assessment How do we give students a chance to give us the evidence we require of them? • M.C. / Selected Response / Short Answer • Essay • Performance Assessment • Personal Communication

16. A Quiz…. Please select one of the following descriptors to characterize the quality of the match between each target type and assessment method. Excellent - Good - Fair - Poor

17. Target => Evidence => AssessmentNow what? We need a way to keep track of all the evidence we get from these assessment and to provide consistent and directed feedback to learners.

18. Scoring Guides • Answer Keys • Checklists√ • Rating Scales ____|____|____|____|____ • Rubrics 1 2 3 4

19. In order to assess we must elicit, observe, and interpret external indicators of an internal state. Inferences

20. The Valentine Creation Workshop

21. The Valentine Creation Workshop • What are the important outcomes for your graduates? Pick two. (Learning Targets) • How will you know that graduates have achieved these outcomes? (Evidence) • How will you give them a chance to demonstrate their achievement? (Assessment) Create a rubric.

22. The Pumpkin Carving Workshop

23. The Pumpkin Carving Workshop • What are the important outcomes for your graduates? (Learning Targets) • How will you know that graduates have achieved these outcomes? (Evidence) • How will you give them a chance to demonstrate their achievement? (Assessment) Create a learning target, evidence, and a scoring guide

24. Cognitive Processes => Self Monitoring Learners Scoring Guides:Answer Keys, Checklists, Rating Scales & Rubrics Feedback Active Construction of Understanding

25. Checklists • “A checklist is a set of specific key behaviors that represent the competency or activity of interest” • The behaviors should be concrete and observable. • The behaviors are either present or absent. • Checklists may be scored (yes: +1, no: -1) Gredler, M. (1999). Classroom Assessment and Learning. Longman

26. Checklists • Identify your target (e.g., effective paragraph construction) • Construct a list of observable component behaviors • Arrange the components in a logical order • Devise a simple (e.g., present / absent) marking system Item Present Absent Outline of paragraph ____ ____ Topic Sentence ____ ____ Paragraph single topic ____ ____ Content in logical order ____ ____ Conclusion supported ____ ____

27. Rating Scales • “Rating scales are used when characteristics or dimensions of performance or product can be identified and exist to a greater or lesser degree.” • Include only those behaviors that you will teach; • Limit each item to a single dimension of the performance or product; • Avoid judgmental terms. Gredler, M. (1999). Classroom Assessment and Learning. New York: Longman. Chase, C. (1999). Contemporary Assessment for Educators.New York: Longman.

28. Rating scales for essays of literary criticism Gives reasons and specific evidence to support the argument 5 4 3 2 1 0 Exceptional Adequate Limited huh? Achievement Achievement Evidence Identifies and discusses alternatives points of view 5 4 3 2 1 0 Exceptional Adequate Limited huh? Achievement Achievement Evidence

29. Rubrics • A rubric is simply “a hierarchy of standards used to score students’ work.*” • Rubrics generally have 3 - 6 levels of achievement. • Rubrics can be holistic or analytic, general or specific. • Holistic: describes the qualities of the performance as a whole. One score stands for a constellation of descriptors. • Analytic: assigns separate scores to the task’s essential traits. • General: one rubric applies to various instances of the phenomenon. • Specific: the rubric applies to one specific task *Bush & Leinwand. (2000). “Mathematics Assessment:…” Reston, VA. NCTM. McGatha & Darcy. (2010). “Rubrics at Play.” Teaching Mathematics in the Middle School. v. 15 n.6

30. holistic Rubrics

31. Analytic Rubrics

32. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Plan a controlled experiment, using the materials in the container, that would allow you to answer this question. Why might I do this with a 5th grade class?

33. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Washington Science Standards for Grades 4-5 • EALR 2: Inquiry • Big Idea: Inquiry (INQ) • Core Content: Planning Investigation • 4-5 INQB Investigate Content Standard: Scientists plan and conduct different kinds of investigations, depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include systematic observations and descriptions, field studies, models, and open-ended explorations as well as controlled experiments. Performance expectation: Work collaboratively with other students to carry out a controlled experiment, selecting appropriate tools and demonstrating safe and careful use of equipment. http://www.k12.wa.us/Science/pubdocs/WAScienceStandards.pdf

34. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Learning Target:Student will be able to control variables in an experiment or “fair test.” (Skill/Process)   Evidence: Student devises an experiment in which one variable is manipulated while all others are held constant. Assessment: Performance assessment Scoring Guide - Rubric